fully do not get the thing about halsin coming on too strong at the tiefling party bc like...that's the party where you can flirt with *everybody* and at that point halsin turns you down too.
even before the party lae'zel asks you very up front if you wanna bone and i dont hear ppl saying lae'zel is too pushy (btw i don't think so either, her bluntness is part of her charm)
also when you actually can get with halsin in act 3, he's very respectful abt it, including if you turn him down. i do think some ppl are overthinking things and just aren't ready to deal with their negative ideas about polyam ppl š¤·
To add to this, Garrus can die in the suicide mission in ME2. ME3 is designed to go on without him in that scenario. You can flat out refuse to let him on the team in ME1. I have literally done a Shepard run who kept him off the team as much as possible (and discovered that his romance hinges on being on the team in ME1).
Meanwhile, I'm finding out that Liara had intentionally stayed quiet in ME1 about Tali's crush to increase her chances of getting with Shepard. That in of itself isn't a bad thing, but it does bring up questions as to whether she refused to update Ashley/Kaidan (to whom Shepard could even be romantically involved with) for the same reasons. She somehow can remember details on Tali's masturbation habits from 6 months ago to spite her in front of Shepard, but she couldn't remember to update Shepard's potential girlfriend/boyfriend about them being in Cerberus hands?! We should not be wondering whether Horizon is the result of Liara trying to sabotage Shepard's potential romantic relationship at Shepard's expense.
This is one of the many reasons why Liara creeps out people.
if u haven't read it a lot of liara's more action-oriented shift was told in the comics. the shadow broker DLC didn't quite capture how much effort she went thru to secure shep's body and how big feron's role. i personally welcome the change and while i like archeologist liara i think her ME1 characterization is so superficial. she's mostly just a fan girl. the shift is abrupt but it's nice that in ME2 she has her own thing going on outside shepard cos i believe the writers wrote her as the canon love interest in mind so her character often suffers from the fangirl disease. i think a lot of people in the fandom dislike how the game shove her to us so much. which is funny since another famous shepard ship is garrus, who's equally as pushed as liara and is just as much of a shep fan. it's just that he's a guy so he doesn't suffer sexist hate.
I haven't read/seen anything outside the games, no! I've been thinking of getting into that, but first I'd like to sort out all of my feelings wrt the main event - the games. I feel like if I got into the "peripheric" media, it could maybe influence how I view the games and i want to analyze those by themselves (i'm thinking i'll finish this playthrough + another one in which i might or might not play as mshep) and then see about everything else. Thank you for the rec, though! I knew there was extra stuff about tali and garrus but this is the first i'm hearing about liara <3
And well... let's be real, most of the squad is part of the Shepard fan club, even those that can't be romanced, like Grunt and Wrex. The fact that Shepard gets a breeding request in Tuchanka after completing grunt's loyalty mission is like the most Mary Sue thing ever (and I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way). The asari, sex symbols of the galaxy, are throwing themselves at them left and right (Liara, Shiala, arguably Sha'ira, Morinth...). Shepard is the main character, everyone wants a piece of them. It's one of the entertaining parts of the games (or at least I have a lot of fun with it, if maybe a little bit ironically).
I suppose people might single out Liara because she's the one whose actions are the most extreme, and thus it crosses the line from "cute" to "creepy", but she's not the only one. Legion literally wears the armor off their dead body. As I said in my post, maybe her actions and/or attitude aren't 100% justifiable, but they are understandable.
I'm not sure about the game pushing Garrus as a love interest (I think the game itself is skeptical of the player making this choice, like when Shepard says she "can't believe she finds comfort in the arms of a turian" or something like that), but I do think he's definitely meant to be one of the characters that's most influenced by Shepard, regardless of gender.
Personally, I think him being so popular a choice (at least on Tumblr, which has a mostly female userbase compared to other social media) is due to him being a man, yes, but not necessarily because of sexism (or not always), but because het ships are farrrr more popular than femslash. Also, it's very clear how much he respects Shepard in basically every aspect, and it's incredibly fucking rare to see a het relationship in such equal ground, especially with a """bad guy""" lmao. (though ME in general does quite good in that regard I think, the romances in general are not toxicā¢ļø or unequal) (mostly... ignoring that Shepard is basically everyone's boss... lol).
I completely agree that there's a double standard in how female characters are expected to behave vs male ones, and from what i've seen Liara is 100% a victim of this (I had the very bad idea of reading some threads on reddit...yikes). I don't know the fandom enough to know how it compares in relation to Garrus in particular, though, or if there's a correlation between Shakarian fans and Liara haters.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Larian doesn't abandon BG3 and continue making new patches and adding new content. Hovewer, I find it very exhausting: I played the game when it came out. I saw how unfinished it was. I played the prologue when they released it. But I still have either the same or similar issues with the game since the day they released it?
Halsin's trauma (and his personality somehow) is still being taken as a joke. He still isn't an origin companion and doesn't really have much lore behind him.
Astarion, as great as his story is written, still has the most interactions with the character you're playing as, the most quests. They poured a lot of resources into him at the cost of forgetting everyone else (especially Halsin and Wyll).
Lastly, what about people that can't bring themselves to replay the entire game for the second, third, fourth, fifth (etc) time? Why do I get to experience the "finished" game at the release and then a year, two years later I learn that there's tons of new content I'm missing on because it became clear that the devs actually didn't finish the game when it came out of Early Access?
Technically, I can replay the game. But I find it way too boring, exhausting, and overwhelming to do all the quests for the second, third time. I can't even push myself thought the main quests, knowing I'm missing on so many missions, and interactions, and leveling up, and romance. So I just... don't?
I just want to experience the game the way it's supposed to be. Like wiyh red Dead Redemption 2āwhat a masterpiece. Rockstar took their time and created exactly what they wanted people to experience. How is it too much to ask for BG3, too?
Yeah, patch 7 is live. That's great. They couldn't made it into the finished game, though? Upon release? The game should've been in early access for another year or two. And have much more closed beta testers of every kind. They wouldn't get such a huge feedback as they got after "full" releasing the game, but they could've still improved it tremendously.
I don't know, man. I'm sad and exhausted. I want to experience all those new interactions, but I don't have the energy and motivation to do so. It's way too repetitive and, as I already said, overwhelming.
drop this sunflowerš»into the inboxes of the blogs that make you happy! lets spread a little sunshine āļø
You're too kind!
What is it about laying on the floor when you're overwhelmed that makes everything feel so much better?
My headcanon for Karlach is that after a long, exhausting fight to get her a functional replacement for her engine, she and Wyll finally return from Avernus, taking a long, long moment to just. Breathe. Fresh air at last, but this time for good. A huge burst of laughter as she picks Wyll up and whirls in a loop with him, tossing him in the air before catching him and giving him the most affectionate (painful) hug she's ever given.
Years later, she's settled into a life where she's running a tavern funded by Wyll, called the Battleaxe where the plates, bowls and cutlery are reinforced to handle the barfights that break out and there's an extra fee charged for every participant (or you clean the mess up yourself). The street kids come by to hang out with her and call her Mama K. They have dubbed themselves the "Kar-lackeys", aspiring to grow up as strong and fearless as her as she fixes troublesome patrons with a steely eye and a crooked grin before launching them into a pile of outside hay she has replaced every other day due to the vomit.
Her teammates visit her often, Astarion frequently trying to get her to spot him just this once, Gale always bringing homemade cooking that he knows she missed, Halsin bringing her carvings that she keeps on a shelf behind the bar, Shadowheart hiding out there with her on occasion for relief from Sharrans and to share a drink or 5, Lae'zel comparing fighting techniques with her regarding patrons and of course, Wyll, who is always there for her because after all they've been through, how could they part ways just like that? Jaheira's kids are also frequent visitors, with Jaheira there to congratulate her on getting back and Minsc of course to tell her more of what Boo told him.
And once a year, they all gather in her tavern after last call, to share a round together as they sing rounds of the worst ballads they've ever heard. She smiles as she says silently to herself, "Mom. Dad. I made it back."
I'm convinced that polyamory is nature's way of granting mercy to Halsin's lovers who have severely underestimated his unholy sexual stamina.
garrus lives rent free in my mind. garrus can do no wrong. he may be conflicted with his sense of justice but lest you forget that this man dropped everything multiple times to join his lady in saving the galaxy. he recognized her as soon as he saw her on Omega. he never questioned if she was really shepard after being brought back by cerberus. he said to hell with turian standards AND GRABBED HER HAND ON MENAE. he is simply unmatched.
I refuse to believe they didnāt know what they were doing when they made The Ghoul. You mean to tell me a good man and father with a fondness for dogs and in love with his wife, over the course of centuries and nuclear war, turns into an irradiated cowboy bounty hunter with flexible morals, quippy one liners, and a reluctant fondness for an earnest and kind (but total badass) young woman with whom he shares an equivalent exchange before they end the season with the promise of two unlikely parties joined together on a road trip questā¦and people DIDNāT expect tumblr to go feral?
I donāt know if this means anything, but Iām glad youāre coming back. I really enjoyed reading your analysis and was looking forward to more.
I came back to check up on my account and whatnot, so I guess you could say Iām tentatively back. I might soon start visiting this account more often and typing up some bits on the meta posts I want to post.
Iāll probably make them non-rebloggable and turn off replies, and just accept asks. At least with asks, if thereās something inflammatory, I can just delete it and move on.
It might be a while, but Iāve got quite a few characters in the docket and I donāt want to just go away forever without trying to address them.
*Halsin kissing Tav while holding them so tightly that not one mote of light could come between them, kissing them so deeply that there is no room for thought, only sensation of his scent, the calluses on his hands, the firmness of his body, the heat emanating from him. Every touch he gives is to bring them closer until it feels like they'll be consumed by his passion before it ends.*
Halsin: *smiling* Was there something you wanted, my heart?
Tav: š¶
Halsin: ....my heart?
Tav: .......I think I forgot my name.